Bikes & Gear
Evaluations & Recommendations
2025 Indian Scout 101 Ride & Review
While I may not have 101, there are plenty of reasons to love the 2025 Indian Scout 101. This new addition to the Scout lineup is a powerful mid-sized cruiser, with a low center of gravity, nimble steering, and an improved suspension system. That list alone makes this one of the best Scouts I’ve ever ridden, but add to that comfortable ergonomics, a user-friendly dash, and eye-catching paintwork, and the 2025 Indian Scout 101 is a cruiser I’d not only recommend, but I’d seriously consider purchasing myself. With that said, as a motorcycle journalist I try to maintain an impartial opinion of the bikes I review, but every so often a motorcycle comes along that really resonates with me. The Scout 101 is one of those motorcycles.
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First Ride: 2025 Yamaha R9
Fast forward a few months and I happily found myself packing my track gear and jumping on a plane for sunny Sonoma, California for the official Yamaha R9 press event at Sonoma Raceway. With such anticipation and hype around the bike over the years and having recently watched the bike debut in World Supersport with a win, I was extremely excited for the opportunity to be one of the first people stateside to throw a leg over the bike.
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100 Miles on a Triumph Speed Twin 1200 RS
Triumph’s quintessential big Bonney is the epitome of classic Brit bike style, yet utilizing all the modern tech we’ve come to expect in our motorbikes- EFI, ABS, adjustable suspension, various ride modes, etc. The Street Twin 1200 rolls with upright ergos, solid shifting and braking, light and responsive handling, and that nostalgic Triumph vibe one can only experience on a Bonneville. I’m biased admittedly, owning a 2017 Bonney 900 myself, and having grown up around them with my Triumph-riding father back many moons ago. I love these motorcycles.
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Cardo Comms in Peru
Arriving in Arequipa a week earlier, we were greeted with a plethora of “to do” items as we got ready to take seven riders on their first motorcycle tour in Peru. With Chip having had a job launching the Space Shuttle in his previous life, I asked if he would install the Cardo PACKTALK EDGE Duo units into our helmets. I was more than a little consumed with minutia as well as being a mechanical and electrical Muppet. I have a Klim adventure helmet and Chip wears a Bell Qualifier with built-in comms pocket.
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An Interesting Pair of Harleys
very January, motorcycle brands pull the wraps off of new, updated, or revised motorcycles for the new year. We’ve seen several unique offerings already by different companies, and two in a recent press release from Harley-Davidson caught our attention. Harley is offering a Street Glide Ultra this year, and they are debuting what some say might be the closest we’ll see to that Bronx prototype from several years ago, in a stripped-down and hopped up Pan America 1250 ST.
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Bikes We’d Like to Ride in 2025
Every new year, we look forward to the press releases of new and/or upgraded motorcycles soon to debut. It’s an annual ritual in our world, and 2025 is no different. We peruse the press docs, dream and scheme about how we might get a ride on the ones we really like, and start making plans. Most of the bikes we dream about we eventually get a chance to sample; others, not so much. But it’s fun to dream, right?
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Top Five Fave Bikes of 2024
Looking back over the year, several motorcycles stand out in our minds as bikes we really enjoyed riding and sampling. So here are our top five favorite motorcycles that we got to ride in 2024. We’ll review them in reverse order from fifth to first. We also have a couple of “honorable mentions” to toss in at the end. We must point out that there was not a bike we rode this year that we didn’t enjoy, so just because some don’t make the list doesn’t mean they are not great motorbikes. We just decided to drill down on a few of our faves.
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Five Top Selling Motorcycles in America for 2024
The year 2024 has been an interesting one in the motorcycle industry. Consolidations and closures, the rise in used bike sales over new ones, new motorbikes and upgrades/revisions of existing models, the past year has been tumultuous for motorcycle brands in general, a downright roller coaster for American motorcycling in particular. Yet despite it all, motorcycling in the States is very much alive and well, as it is across the globe. Motorcycles are selling, and people are riding. Our lifestyle still means freedom, adventure, community, and connection- with the open road, our fellow riders, and our beloved machines. As we prepare to conclude another year, let’s take a look at a few of the best selling motorcycles in America over the past 12 months.
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First Look: 2025 Triumph Bobber TFC
Triumph Motorcycles has a custom bike division, called “TFC” for “Triumph Factory Custom”, not unlike Harley-Davidson’s CVO line. Each year, the brand designs and builds limited edition models for their TFC line, and sent us a few early press photos of a Bobber TFC 1200 they are looking to bring to market in the new year. They’ve made more than aesthetic upgrades for this custom model- they have also made a few significant changes to the overall design and function of the Bobber in general. We’re unsure if these will translate to the base model Bobber, or remain on this custom version.
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